The Emerging Roles of Exosomes As EMT Regulators in Cancer

Overview

Journal Cells

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2020 Apr 8

PMID 32252322

Citations 62

Authors

Hyunwoo Kim

Sungmin Lee

Eunguk Shin

Ki Moon Seong

Young Woo Jin

Hyesook Youn

Buhyun Youn

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) causes epithelial cells to lose their polarity and adhesion property, and endows them with migratory and invasive properties to enable them to become mesenchymal stem cells. EMT occurs throughout embryonic development, during wound healing, and in various pathological processes, including tumor progression. Considerable research in the last few decades has revealed that EMT is invariably related to tumor aggressiveness and metastasis. Apart from the interactions between numerous intracellular signaling pathways known to regulate EMT, extracellular modulators in the tumor microenvironment also influence tumor cells to undergo EMT, with extracellular vesicles (EVs) receiving increasing attention as EMT inducers. EVs comprise exosomes and microvesicles that carry proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and other small molecules to stimulate EMT in cells. Among EVs, exosomes have been investigated in many studies, and their role has been found to be significant with respect to regulating intercellular communications. In this review, we summarize recent studies on exosomes and their cargoes that induce cancer-associated EMT. Furthermore, we describe the possible applications of exosomes as promising therapeutic strategies.

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